The Horse Returns

What did I find in my PO Box this AM??? What do you know. Postal employees in Jackson Hole can't deliver to a street address? Who knew. Sooooo - I get to put more stamps on it and try this again. It was me that wrote that box number on the label, but I had to do some searching to find it.

I will not be deterred.

It Fills The Bill --- Literally

This is another piece of old paper like the two Geo. Miller pieces I picked up from Mary Patterson, although this piece came from Stuart MacKenzie in Chinook, Montana. It has a similar back story. I had visited Stuart's shop twice looking for old paper, and while there several months ago, he brought me this piece and said "You should be able to do something with this one". I rejected it immediately as too ornate and fancy for me. Before I left that day, Stuart said "How can you beat this piece of paper? It has everything you need on it. Couldn't you put a straw hat on this"? I once again gave it a rejection.

I no sooner got home from that trip and I was perusing the Cigar Label Junkie site, and LO! What to my wandering eyes did appear, but a stork with a seegar in its bill! Not only that, but five minutes later I found another label with a Jolly Good Fellow wearing a straw boater.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at Stuart's again, and this paper was at the top of my list. So there you have it. I think I'm going to have to stop looking so hard for old paper and let the stork deliver it from now on...

And, yes - I enhanced the vignette a little bit.

Try, Try Again

I got some news last night about a Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming, that might possibly be interested enough to let me walk in the door and show 'em what I got. It's worth a written inquiry, anyway. So - I'm off to the Post Office to show them the Horse I rode in on.

And... I heard from a gentleman in Great Falls that Mr. Bob Bundi at the Glass Art Shop & Gallery might also be good enough to let me do a walk-in Show & Tell. So - I threw this one at the Pony Express rider this AM. I can't strike out forever.

Last but not least, I got one more recommendation today about Avery's Paradise. Hmmmm.

PFF #8 - LARGE Letter Dirty Sox & a FREEbie

Okay. So I hope this works... My brother-in-law rode a scooter to see me. He's been blogging and scooting his way across Canada and into Montana. Several days ago, I asked a question: Where are your dirty socks? Sixteen hundred miles and eight days into this trip, and he tells me today he washed his socks yesterday. I told him he was lucky, cuz he'd not be setting a single wee little piggie inside my house with dirty socks. We documented his presence with a Teich LARGE letter postcard perched atop his dirty socks. I'm such a good friend...

And - I'm throwing in a Freebie that should have never reached its destination - but did. I now interrupt this program to show Chuck how to use the washing machine. Check out Vintage Verve for more good Friendly Postcards!

The Ephemera Hunt

Well, it ain't the Police Blotter or the Official Court Record, but I have to tell you I got some really GOOD INK on Sunday in the Billings Gazette Sunday Magazine. Donna Healy wrote the article and James Woodcock took the photographs, and - I'm flattered.

If the article results in even one person getting the urge to put something on an envelope other than a stamp, I'll be happy. I'm beginning to think that we're losing the urge to create correspondence, and I don't mean the kind that ends up in the Dead Letter bin at the Post Office. We've created too many Electronic Easy Chairs if you get my drift. Cell phones and handheld electronic devices have definitely changed the way we communicate, and although that isn't necessarily a bad thing, I believe that the written word shouldn't be relegated to an album just yet. There is something very magical about getting an envelope in the mail that has your name on it. Try it. Even a doodle will do.

PFF #7 - Navajo Jewelry

Marie at Vintage Postcards is back in the Postcard Friendship Friday game, and since she posted an American Food related card, I decided to post a Native American related cover. I was asked to create this cover for the American First Day Cover Society annual convention in 2004. The USPS usually has a First Day Ceremony for a new postage stamp during the convention, and this was no exception. Since the stamp did not meet the requirements for the First Class postage rate, they made up the rate with Native American related postage, which I think was a splendid idea. I especially liked the little tiny thing that you can barely read.